Compton

Compton is a city in southern California, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. On 11 May 1888, Compton was incorporated as a city, named for the Compton family (which had settled the area in 1867). Compton originally consisted of farmlands, and African-American farmers from the rural American South migrated to Compton during the 1950s. By the 1970s, Compton was predominantly (90%) black, and the erosion of the tax base and white flight led to Compton transforming from a black, middle-class neighborhood into a "ghetto". Following race riots in 1965 and 1992, many white and middle-class families fled, and it had the highest crime rates in the state in 1969. During the 1980s and 1990s, Compton was also plagued by gang violence between the Bloods and the Crips, and gang violence was popularized by gangsta rap groups from Compton such as Compton's Most Wanted and N.W.A. In 2016, Compton had a population of 97,550 people.